Disclaimer: I was provided the nut butter in exchange for creating these recipes. Thank you to Nut Butter Nation for making this ‘Overnight Oatmeal’ bowl series possible! I LOVE your nut butter, and I am thankful for the opportunity to share it.

Making Pinterest graphics is hard y’all. If you want to follow my ‘sweet tooth’ on Pinterest, here’s my account! First let’s talk about oats with Amanda on ‘Thinking Out Loud Thursday.’

This ‘Cinnamon Sugar’ overnight oats recipe is part of a ‘high calorie’ overnight oats series I’ve been doing with Nut Butter Nation. This has been one my first simple recipe series that I’ve done on the blog, and it’s been a good lesson in making Pinterest graphics that actually look appealing.
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The products in the giveaway were provided as compensation in exchange for creating a series of recipes and doing a giveaway. All opinions are my own, and I truly do love this nut butter company 110%!

Today’s WIAW is going to be a little bit different with Arman. These are things you probably didn’t know about me before, and I’m a bit nervous about it, but that’s part of blogging, right? It’s not a bad thing to be vulnerable, is it? That’s actually one of the things I’ve learned from each one of the bloggers I follow. They aren’t afraid of sharing all the parts of their life, so here goes my little attempt!

I can not take credit for this survey, because Alison did it last week, and I loved hers so much, that I wanted to try my own attempt at it. :o) I thought it would be fun to share 25 ‘things’ you didn’t know about me before today.

Well, these facts are things to know about me, or rather the person God is making me to be. I hope it doesn’t sound selfish, and I really hope to be a blessing to you with each fact. If you get bored, you can scroll to the end and enter the giveaway.

This is me, and this is the person who God is changing everyday and growing in a beautiful way. It’s not always pretty, but it’s always wonderful.

Right now I’m an ole lump of coal as you will see from these facts, but as Johnny Cash says, ‘I’m gonna be a diamond someday.’

1. I’m happiest when I’m running and it just hits me how much God loved me to send His Son Jesus Christ to die for someone like me. It’s just a miracle. I can’t explain it. It truly floods my soul with complete peace and humbles me because I realize what unconditional love looks like, and how I often fall so far short of His love, yet He loves me because Christ Jesus took the price I should have paid.

2. …especially if it’s after a long hard day of battling all the lies in my head, stressing over little things that I shouldn’t be stressing over, and being plagued by doubts.

Monday’s Dinner: Macaroni and Cheese will always be one of my official favorite childhood foods. And I’m so thankful that it isn’t a fear food anymore.

3. I’ve always wanted to own my own restaurant. ‘Nuff said? I love the hospitality and love part that goes into making food for others, and the kitchen is always the outlet where I just feel like I was MADE to be there.

4. My family and I have gone through some of the biggest storms together, and I’m always so thankful and amazed that we are still friends. It’s truly a testimony to God’s grace. We also all LOVE eating cereal.

5. I was a terrible friend. I would always ‘run over’ people with my words, because I was careless. I had to learn some huge lessons that really stung, but it was part of the ‘purifying’ process.

Hebrews 12:6-7, ‘For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?’

6. My first job was trying to sell my baked goods to our neighbors. Needless to say, I wasn’t the best marketer. I would rather give away stuff than sell it. *bad business woman*

7. I could and would probably eat yogurt, peanut butter, and some sort of cereal + fruit every day if I didn’t have so many recipe blogger friends that make treats that are hard to not make. 😀

8. I wish I could be more compassionate and patient right away, but I think that’s why I’m not patient right now, cause it takes patience. 🙂 I also wish I could meet all my blogger friends and recovery warriors.

(Tuesday Dinner Dessert) Two desserts in one day? Yes please! These would be from Michelle. Mine didn’t look nearly as beautiful, but they tasted AMAZING! Thank you Michelle. <3

9. I was born on the same day as Tom Cruise. (I literally just looked this up as I was writing this, because I had no idea…)

10. My all time favorite films are Lord of the Rings (reminds me of the battle I face every day), the Guardian (this Coast Guard film always shakes me and reminds me of the amazing sacrifice men and women make like this every day.), and ummm…. The Fugitive.

11. I do a pretty mean … um… um…. long blog post? (So lame, I know.)

12. I’m still mad that I didn’t take the opportunity to try ‘white ants’ in Uganda, considered a delicacy to them.

13. I met my husband… not yet.

13. I always knew I wanted to do something that had to do with PEOPLE. I wanted to do something that had to do with giving, cause I really stink at making money.

14. I’m not afraid to be a little crazy. I love meeting new people and reaching out to strangers. I also really love cooking and baking without recipes which makes my family a bit nervous.

16. I make the best food when I’m cooking on the fly. I love to make dishes that are comprised of so many delectable ingredients without a recipe. As long as I don’t go too crazy, I’m always thankful when my family loves them.

Tuesday Lunch Part I: Leftover Spanish Rice with parmesan cheese…

17. I always cry when it really hits me just what this means.

Romans 5:8-10, ‘But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.’

While I was a sinner, Christ died for me. No more words.

18. I’m always a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to writing blog posts. I literally write them the night before. (Bad blogger)

19. I spent 2 years thinking I was going to be a race director, and then I figured out that that wasn’t the gift God had given me.

20. I wish that everyone in the world could know the amazing love of God and be showered with the compassion of Jesus, instead of the hate that so often goes around. I wish every little child could experience the love this little girl and I have experienced in our homes.

I know the change starts with me.

21. At age 5, I was deeply in love with playing make believe, till I was about 18?

22. I believe if people knew that God is love and truth and that Jesus can heal even the most broken heart and soul, their lives would be changed.

23. I can’t stand me being arrogant. I’m thankful that the Lord is always humbling me.

25. Whenever I’m tired, I miss one of the numbers in this post, and I just don’t have enough energy to think up another fact. 😀

BUT NOW... I have a giveaway for you. I’m in the midst of trying to create a round-up of ‘high calorie’ bowls of overnight oats with one of my favorite nut butter companies, and I already posted the first in the series.

Did you see that delicious ‘dark chocolate peanut butter’ drizzled on top?

Well, I couldn’t not share some of my favorite creamy peanut butter with you, and Nut Butter Nation really kindly provided 2 extra jars of their peanut butter to share with the readers.

This Giveaway will run till the end of this week (August 6th), and I will send an email to the winner on Saturday evening, so get your entries in here. There will be two winners who will receive one of the jars listed above!

We all have battles, right? I’m not just talking about physical battles, because that would ignore the whole person we were created to be, mind, body, soul, and spirit. I’m talking about the intense warfare that goes on behind the scenes, the kind that often takes years to surface in an eating disorder. Each day our minds are being assaulted.

As a person in recovery, I think I started to realize that every person’s mind is being attacked by lies, and that we need to search for and stand on truth.

In the mind, you might battle fear, anxiety, pain, hurt, bitterness, and anger. It’s tough. It’s not easy, and I don’t want to downplay the seriousness of the battle you face.

When I learned that the battle in the mind is the most difficult and the foundational part of recovery was when I saw where the real enemy was.

Before we get into these delicious creaminess of this ‘Rainforest Dark Chocolate Overnight Oatmeal Bowl’, let’s talk about how one kind of love taught me the right kind of ‘self care’ or ‘self love’ in recovery. Do you remember when I wrote this blog post titled, ‘More than Self Love?’

I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and I’ve been learning more about what love means, why love is so important and vital to finding a reason for living. This is just a small bit of what recovery taught me.

The Life of the Writer

I live in the beautiful state of Colorado where 14ers are to give you all the sore legs you need, amazing skiing, plenty of other runners, glorious sunsets, majestic elk herds, and peaceful country roads with clear air.

Go Back in Time!

Go Back in Time!

I am a very ordinary girl. I’m 21, but if you met me, you wouldn’t believe me. I am passionate about girls finding true beauty in Christ. I love peanut butter, icecream, and salad. My hobbies are cooking, baking, sharing laughs and tears with others, and sharing the fullness of joy that Christ has put in me. I love reading other blogs, and I hope that this will be a place where you can find encouragement, recipes, smiles, and joy. Click here to read more about me...